The Shanaphy Family Band

The Vero Beach Art Museum, Vero Beach, FL, March 22, 2018

Reviewed by Lynn DiMenna for Cabaret Scenes

As one of Vero Beach, Florida’s most popular local quartets, The Shanaphy Family Band has indeed kept it all in the family. Led by Ed Sr., the former publisher and editor of one of astute music lovers’ most revered resources, Sheet Music Magazine, who also spearheaded the concept of promoting and selling CD packages on television as president of the Good Music Company, this longtime pianist, music director and Great American Songbook devotee, had only to look to his daughter, Kate and son, Ed Jr. to fill in the vocal and drum roles respectively. He was equally fortunate to have local musician and member of the Jamaican Music Hall of Fame, Taddy Mowatt, on bass. At 90 years young, Mowatt plays with the energy and enthusiasm of a bassist half his age.

In between day jobs for Kate and Ed Jr.

, they’ve been performing regularly at all the major venues in Vero Beach for nearly 10 years, and it shows. Father knows best when it comes to choosing songs for any given occasion, drawing on his extensive repertoire from all his years in the music business—playing piano with the Glenn Miller Orchestra and working and hobnobbing with songwriters, musicians, and performers in a broad range of genres and musical styles for his magazine.

At a recent annual outing at The Vero Beach Art Museum, the band reached a new level of tight collaboration when, along with Shanaphy Sr.’s Long Branch, New Jersey high school friend, Lou Califano, on tenor sax, they brought fresh finesse to standard jazz instrumentals like “Jordu” and “Just Friends,” and more than ably accompanied Kate on songs perfectly matched to her voice and style. Audience favorites—“Honeysuckle Rose,” ”Crazy Rhythm,” “Hard-Hearted Hannah”—all provided Kate an opportunity to dazzle and her sidemen a chance to shine on their individual solos.

A self-proclaimed alto, Kate’s robust yet mellifluous voice has an alluring huskiness that complements these song choices perfectly.
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She’s equally convincing and brings out her “Bessie Smith” on standards like “The Joint Is Jumpin’,” “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out,” and the surprise break-out final song in the second set, James Brown’s “(I Got You) I Feel Good.

” When she steps up to the microphone, her vocals are all clean, bright, truthful and spirited, and there’s a steely smile in her voice that pulls you in and just makes you…well, feel good!

Papa, too, belies his age and can still comply with great dexterity on a last-minute request for “Maple Leaf Rag.” He also has an engaging way of setting up a song with stories and anecdotes that only a raconteur can tell. His reading of another impromptu request for “St. James Infirmary,” for example, perfectly captured the humorous nuances of this famous American folk song’s tale of woe. Ed Jr. picked up right where his father left off by putting his own personal stamp on his and wife Sophie’s wedding song, “Fly Me to the Moon.” He was rewarded with a kiss, given that, as the museum’s Marketing and Communications Director, she was in attendance on a glorious, sunshiny day on Florida’s Treasure Coast.

All in all, what better way to spend a lovely late afternoon, in season, with “tutta la famiglia” playing and singing classic American popular songs with able hands and exceptional voices.
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